There Were Three

By Audrey Stepanian

My true story, which I have titled There Were Three, is a historical memoir starting with how my parents met, married, and raised eleven children on a farm. Throughout my childhood, there was World War II, the Korean War, and a Depression, making do with what we had helped to mold character as we faced hardships. I married and lost three husbands to illness. Along with the losses came many provisions and blessings through my walk with the Lord.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662426391

Book preview

The Beginning

It was in the summer of 1925, the day of the Stiles family reunion. My mom-to-be, Mildred Harrington, was sitting in the back seat of a car visiting with her friends, laughing and anticipating the first day of school in the coming fall. Mom was fifteen. Another car pulled up close beside them. A young man named Melvin Bliss, my dad-to-be, was with his older cousin Jesse Baker and his girlfriend, Anna.

Melvin asked Mildred to go for a ride with them. Mildred was having such an enjoyable time with the girls that she almost declined. In the end, she did accept his invitation. During the ride, Melvin put his arm up on the seat behind Mildred. Mildred shared that during the ride, her whole world changed. She was in love with Melvin.

That very evening, they went on a moonlight drive to town for ice cream. As a fifteen-year-old, Mom was an attractive young lady at her best! Her long dark curly hair must have pleased my dad. Dad had bright blue eyes that sparkled. He also was always well dressed and behaved as a gentleman with good manners. On the way home, Melvin pulled the car off the road, stopping by a cornfield, across the road from the old fairgrounds. It was there that they shared their first kiss. Love was happening!

What an exciting day that must have been for both of them! They were probably very anxious for the next time they could spend time together, discovering new things about each other. When one is in love, suddenly the sky is bluer, the trees are greener, and the flowers radiate with color and beauty.

After the reunion and meeting Melvin, Mom attended school one more year to obtain all the credits she could. She took a heavier study plan to get more schooling before leaving to be married. For my father, it was back to work to save for the time when they could finally have the wedding. They made their plans when to marry after Dad’s talk with her father. Dad’s birthday was in December, and he desired to turn nineteen before marriage. Likewise, Mom wanted to be sixteen.

In the months that followed, their relationship blossomed. Melvin had a private conference with Mildred’s dad, Grandpa Harrington. He gave his permission, and in December, Mildred and Melvin were wed at the pastor’s home in Jasper, New York. Mom was just sixteen, and Dad was nineteen. Through happy and hard times, their union produced eleven children and would last nearly fifty-nine years. Happy they were and so in love!

My mom was Mildred Irene Bliss, 1910–2006, a farmer’s wife who raised a family of eleven children. In her retirement years, she served as the Troupsburg Town historian.

From her written words of memories in 1926,

The hill road was almost impassable. In fact, we had to circle the Little Woods and come up by the field in the Model T and then walk part of the way to reach the white house on the hill. It was getting shady by then. The sun had been bright and the sky very blue all day although it was very cold, and by nightfall, it would be zero at least.

On December 18, 1926, we ate lunch, and then with my mom accompanying us, we drove to Jasper, where the marriage ceremony was performed by the Rev. Helena Chaplin in the Methodist parsonage. With no blood test required, the license had been procured at the town clerk’s office with both of our parents signing. Christmas was only one week away, so we all went to Hornell to do our shopping in one of the following days that week.

The following week, news was out that we were married. Some of the neighbors planned a shower for us, and they came to my parents’ house (where we were staying and going to live) on New Year’s Eve, either by sleigh or walking up the hill. What fun that brought to our new home!

The following week, a large woodpile was buzzed up, and a good lot of it taken to the village of Troupsburg, where my mom and dad and my three brothers were moving. They had rented the house by the ME Church. At that time, a wood furnace and a big cookstove in the kitchen were the heat and cooking with no electricity. There was a barn nearby, so they took two cows with them, and others in town were happy to buy the extra milk by the quart.

Back on the farm, we made a trip to a secondhand furniture store in Hornell and purchased a nice used dresser, a round top table, and a library table. Six kitchen chairs and two rockers from Griggs Furniture Store in Troupsburg were also purchased. Each family gave us a bed, and we bought a used wood heater, which worked well, and our Kalamazoo kitchen range came after three or four weeks of waiting.

Melvin owned three cows, which he moved over to add to the ten cows that my dad had left on the farm. The milk was taken to the milk plant in town. One-half of the check was our income. We didn’t have a car…so when it was our turn to take the milk to the plant (he changed with three other neighbors), I usually rode along in the horse-drawn sleigh and often spent the day with my mom in town. In the spring, we got a used Model T from Ervie Austin, and Dad started doing carpentry work.

As Told by Audrey

Dad (Melvin) was a good carpenter and helped repair many things to bring in extra income. Owning a car working out was much more possible. Through the years, he not only built our new home with mom and the sons’ help but built a house in Elkland, Pennsylvania, and one in Wellsville for his cousin.

During their early days of marriage, Mom (Mildred) wrote how they spent some evenings practicing their music. Dad had a guitar and was good on the harmonica and later the violin. Mom played chords on the old upright piano given to them by her parents. In those days, there were no electric lights, radio, or television, so they relied on family and friends for entertainment.

In later days, Mom and Dad mentioned many times how they attended the fairs held at the old fairgrounds, which were located just a short distance from where they now lived. It must have been a happy gathering place for many.

The following year, Mom and Dad decided to move to the Bliss Homestead as his father and mother were getting too old to work the farm. Mom and Dad moved there and purchased the homestead by giving up one-half of their milk check to his parents for them to live on. In December the following year, they moved all their household goods onto a lumber wagon and a Model T Ford and traveled over frozen and muddy roads to the original Bliss homestead in the area of Young Hickory in Troupsburg, New York. They settled into their home as they awaited the arrival of their first child. January brought somewhat warmer temperatures with clouds, rain, and more mud.

My parents once told me that they never accepted or asked for welfare. When they were starting out, buying Grandpa Bliss’s farm, they put in an extra acre or two of potatoes as a cash crop to sell to bring in extra money to care for themselves.

Sharing the milk check was not always easy for the parents or Mom and Dad. One July, their check from nineteen cows was only sixty-six dollars to be shared. They owned many chickens and grew most of their food. Beyond that, they did without. Dad was not always paid in cash. One time, his pay was a topcoat with a fur collar and another time, a violin! He was very pleased to get them!

I once heard a minister preach a sermon that I never forgot. The subject being What is that in your hand? What do you have that you can fill the need with, or what ability or talent do you possess to be able to meet this need? I know this way of thinking helped my family